Message holder for use with homing pigeons



March 7, 1944. l. s. LE R MER MESSAGE HOLDER FQR USE WITH HOMING PIGEONS Filed Oct. 27, 1942 I -INVENTO 9 j BY /mwr,

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 7, 1944 garage -N OFFICE MESSAGE HOLDER FOR USE WITH HOMING PIGEON S Irving.S.Lermer,Newark, N. assignor to Cellu plastic Corporation, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 27, 1942, seriarrzageeases 1 Claim. (01.224 48) The invention relates to improvements in message holders to be used in connection with homing or carrier pigeons.

I-Ieretofore, metallic bands have been used, but theses devices have had dangerous or inconvenient projections on them and have been more complicated and expensive than necessary.

According to my invention, the message holder has rigidly secured to it a spring clamp especially adapted to be sprung over the usual identification band secured to the leg of a pigeon in such a simple and eifective manner that the pigeon is unable to detach the same either by pecking at it or accidentally.

My improved holder, which is preferably made of a lightweight transparent plastic material, has secured to it in any convenient or desired manner a leg clamp or band which consists of an open spring member which is also made of plastic material. This open spring member has sufficient strength and rigidity in itself to securely hold the message holder on to the identification band on a pigeons leg. I have also provided an auxiliary clamp to insure further protection.

The invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which the same parts are indicated by the same letters throughout the several views.

Fig. 1 represents the profile of a carrier pigeon,

in dotted lines, having one of the improved message holders attached to one of the legs thereof by means of a plastic open spring clamp,

Fig. 2 represents a side elevational view, partially in section, of the message holder shown in Fig. 1, detached from the leg of the pigeon,

Fig. 3 represents a top plan view of the message holder, and

Fig. 4 represents a fragmentary enlarged transverse sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrow, which clearly indicates an auxiliary clamp consisting of a tape, the shorter end of which is secured to one member of the message holder by means of a metallic stud and the longer end of the band being provided with a socket member to have locking engagement with the metallic stud.

As shown in the drawing, the message holder I consists of two cylindrical members 2 and 3, of any lightweight plastic construction, preferably made of clear transparent cellulose acetate, each member having rounded closed ends 2' and screw threaded open ends 3, said screw threaded open ends having locking engagement with each other to provide a closed receptacle.

The leg clamp or band 5 consists of an open circular member of sufficient width to provide the requisite rigidity and flexibility, and is also made of clear transparent cellulose acetate, and

cotton tape i impregnated with a lacquer.

securely fastened to one side of the member 3 with cellulose acetate, or in any other desired or convenient manner.

Also secured to the cylindrical member 3 by means of a metallic stud 6 preferably diametrically opposed to the leg clamp 5 is a lightweight ne end of the tape I is secured to the open leg clamp 5 and the other end is folded over at 9 and provided with a socket member Ill to have locking engagement with the metallic stud 6.

In operation, the message is placed in the cylindrical member 3, and the cylindrical mem her 2 is screw threadedly engaged therewith, the members 2 and 3 forming the message holder I. The spring leg clamp 5 is then snapped around the identification tag on the leg of the pigeon with the message holder on the outer side of the leg. As previously stated, the spring leg clamp or band is also made of clear transparent cellulose acetate of suflicient rigidity, and which has the requisite springiness so that when it is snapped around the identification tag on the leg of the pigeon the message holder will be firmly secured to the identification band, and the accidental separation of the same from the band is reduced to a minimum.

The folded-over end of the tape I is then brought around the open end of the spring clamp 5, and fastened at II by means of the metallic stud and socket arrangement hereinbefore described.

Referring to Fig. 3 of the drawing, it will be noted that the tape "I, forms an auxiliary clamp. The tape 7 is securely fastened first at the open end I2 of the clamp, around said clamp as at I3, completely around the member 3 as at M, then around the other side of the clamp as at I5 to the open end of the clamp IS. From there on the tape hange loose, as shown in dotted lines, until the clamp 5 is placed on the identification tag on the leg of the pigeon, after which the tape I is brought around the open end of the clamp 5, back upon the clamp 5 as at I! and upon the member 3 as at I8, and fastened by means of the stud and socket arrangement described above. By means of the clamp which is placed upon the identification band which all homing pigeons wear, the message holder is enabled to be more safely and securely fastened to the leg of the pigeon by pulling the tape 1 back and locking the socket member with the stud.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a message holder for use with homing pigeons, which is light in weight, safe in operation, simple and inexpensive in construction and which can easily accommodate itself to various size identification leg bands.

The foregoing disclosure is to be regarded as descriptive and illustrative only, and not as restrictive or limitative of the invention, of which, obviously, embodiments may be constructed, including many modifications, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention herein set forth and denoted in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a message holding device for use with homing pigeons, a clamp madeof resilient material, said clamp having the configuration of a longitudinally slit tube adapted to be positioned on and to frictionally embrace the leg or the pigeon to which the device is to be secured, a message receptacle element secured to the back of said clamp, a. flexible tape secured, at one end, to said clamp adjacent the longitudinal slit thereof, then wound back and secured along one side of said clamp, around the receptable and along the other side of the clamp, leaving the other end of said tape to depend freely from the other edge of said slit, to be manually wound across the longitudinal slit and around the side of the clamp opposite that from which the tape depends to close the clamp around the leg, and complementary means on said device and on the free end of said tape for removably securing the tape to said element.

IRVING S. LERMER. 

